


It's Innocence, It's Love

by ianrh



Category: Gossip Girl
Genre: F/M, First Meetings, My First Fanfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-04
Updated: 2016-10-04
Packaged: 2018-08-19 09:34:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8200243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ianrh/pseuds/ianrh
Summary: By the time she was 18, Blair's had two great loves, Nate and Chuck...but what if her young heart was once attracted to someone else? (PS: Now with a brief section involving Carter)





	

**Author's Note:**

> I have always wondered what the show's characters were like before we were introduced to them on TV. The story initially takes place five years following the flash-forward at the end of the series (if that makes any sense), then goes back to a time before technology reigned and Gossip Girl existed.
> 
> I apologize if this fic is bad compared to other stories within the fandom. This is my first try, written because this (underrated) couple needs more fanfics! This is lighthearted with minor "cutesy" elements, so you won't really find anything too intense here.

It was a lovely afternoon in Spring. Blair Waldorf-Bass delicately sat on a freshly-painted bench overlooking a playground in Central Park, where her second child - a six year old daughter named Audrey Rose - had been sitting on the swings several feet away. Any time soon, Dorota (in charge of picking Henry up from his private primary school) would be calling Blair to ask where they would all be meeting. Despite taking the day off from work, Blair was as preoccupied as she would have been at the office. To be blunt, the busy socialite-turned-businesswoman was not even sure _which_ playground the youngest Bass took Blair to or how they both got there. Nevertheless, the quaint spot in the massive and well-maintained park seemed to be the antithesis of what was going on in her life. 

With a slowly dwindling marriage and professional issues concerning Waldorf Designs, Blair's mind had been swimming in anxious thoughts for the past few days, and so she closed her eyes and took a deep breath before continuing to carefully watch Audrey, her own Mini-Me. She prided herself on dressing Audrey that morning: her young girl wore an argyle sweater and a pleated skirt in a sea of children wearing solid polos or t-shirts paired with jeans. As Audrey stood up from the swings and headed toward the monkey bars, Blair suddenly noticed a blonde boy slightly older than her daughter, and wearing a distinct outfit that oddly reminded her of the St. Jude's School for Boys uniform. Blair was not sure if the boy was coming to the park from school in the first place, or if he was simply wearing clothes inspired by boys' private school attire. Blair instantly thought of Nate and Chuck, the two boys from her teenage years, back when the only things to fear were blasts sent by Gossip Girl and rejection letters from Yale. Blair waved her hands gracefully, as if to push those unpleasant teenage memories away from her mind. _I wonder..._ Blair looked up briefly, deep in thought, before fixating her gaze on Audrey and the blonde "schoolboy" once again. 

Blair must have only been a few years older than Audrey when she first met and became attracted to another boy from the Upper East Side. With her hand holding a dormant cellphone, Mrs. Waldorf-Bass (or the possibly soon-to-be Ms. Waldorf) closed her eyes as a gentle gust of wind slowly passed through the playground, reminiscing on a third and unexpected boy from those carefree, fun-filled years... 

\----

_In the mid-to-late 1990s, Blair Waldorf had decided that she was more of an adult compared to other girls her age. Unlike her best friend Serena though, her maturity relied less on perfect shimmery lip gloss application, and more on intelligence and an eagerness to grow up._

"You really think so, Serena?", Blair crinkled her nose as she sat at opposite her best friend at one of the colored tables at their school playground at a weekend event. 

"Totally!" Serena coolly flipped her thick blonde hair and giggled "I noticed Chuck looking at you from this exact spot while we were on the swings last Thursday. He definitely thinks you're cute! Maybe he'll ask you to Cotillion!"

Blair smiled to herself before picturing Nate, deep in conversation with the school's wealthiest student at days prior. "I don't really see it happening...and I'm with Nate. How far away away is Cotillion anyway?"

Her blonde best best friend flipped her thick blonde hair before responding, "You know I don't keep track of these...ten years maybe? Nine...eight?" 

Blair tried not to whine but her exclamation ended up ringing louder than the chatter of the parents roaming the schoolgrounds. "But that's so far away!"

Serena briefly stood up to brush something off the back of her skirt before sitting down again. "I don't know why you're counting on Nate to be your date anyway. He pushed you off the swing last Thursday, remember?" She raised her fists and lightly punched the space in front of her. "If he were here today too, I would give that boy a piece of my mind!" (Little did Serena know that Chuck was looking at Blair as he dared Nate to perform the cruel act in exchange for Chuck's lunch money.)

Blair chuckled at her friend's silliness. "Good point! No true gentleman would ever do such a thing. I could've scraped a knee or...gotten a concussion!"

To this, her blonde friend rolled her eyes, muttering, "Blair Waldorf, future award-winning actress. Think of it this way...there are other, _kind_ guys out there who'll be glad to be your Prince Charming that night!" Blair lightly laughed along, hiding her own insecurities; between the both of them, Serena got more compliments regarding physical beauty and style. To change the subject, Blair decided to visually scan the area surrounding the playground for once. A vaguely unfamiliar figure captured Blair's attention. "Hey Serena, who is that?"

Blair found herself focusing on a male tween with light brown hair who was leaning against the tree by the school entrance. Blair recognized him hanging out with Nate and Chuck a couple of times before, for some reason. With the boy's denim jacket over a white collared shirt and - _is he wearing sunglasses?_ \- Blair thought this mysterious boy was too cool to be standing around their elementary school on a Saturday afternoon.

Serena turned her head to see what, or who rather, Blair was looking at. "Oh, that guy? I know him, his name's Carter-something. My mom knows of his family. His parents travel a lot and he's been to a bunch of schools, but I think they've settled down and are here to stay...for now, at least." Serena glanced back at Blair to catch her flashing a slightly mischievous grin. "Uh-oh. Blair, are you...?"

"I think I found my escort! Think about it Serena: He's older than Nate and Chuck, so he must be more mature. He's well-travelled and is probably the only boy on the Upper East Side worthy of conversing in French with! And-"

Serena decided to cut Blair off mid-speech. "- and we don't know him well enough to start daydreaming about him." Serena sighed a bit before continuing. "Look, you know you're my closest friend, but I can't let you get your hopes up on a boy you've never met, who might end up hurting you more than Nate did a couple of days ago." As a large cluster of adults started heading out of the school building, Blair and Serena spotted their mothers, smiling in conversation as they headed towards the playground. The young girls then decided to wrap up their own "adult" conversation. 

Before Serena offered Blair a quick hug goodbye, she decided to softly and quickly offer some advice. "It's probably best to stick to those we already know. We don't know much about Carter". Blair reflected on Serena's words of wisdom as Lily successfully hailed a taxicab for herself and her daughter and disappeared. 

By the time the yellow cab drove away, Blair decided that Serena was not qualified or worthy to decide what was best for Blair. She looked back at the spot where the intriguing boy named Carter first caught her eye, and saw nothing. Eleanor took Blair's hand and they walked out of the school entrance gates together. It was then that Blair spotted him, sitting on a bench mere yards down the street where the Waldorfs passed through on their way home. Despite the fact that he was wearing sunglasses, Blair was convinced that Carter, the handsome new crush of hers, winked at her whilst sporting a grin that reminded Blair of the classic Hollywood actors she watched and pined for in movies. _I think I found my leading man_ , Blair thought to herself as she attempted to hide her excitement and joy, _I might have to attend Nate and Chuck's basketball games more_.

\-----

_In Tokyo, Carter Baizen, international businessman and contently single bachelor, took an afternoon stroll through the streets of the Harajuku district when a sudden downpour forced him to run into the nearest store he could find, using only his leather briefcase as an umbrella. Even after two years , Carter could not fully predict the weather in the area, and a part of him was reluctant to fully settle in. As the business owner greeted him with a friendly "Konnichiwa" the handsome former socialite looked up to find himself standing before three wide aisles of children's toys. Carter, feeling the store owner eyeing him closely from several feet behind, nervously moved towards a corner of the toy store where no one could see him. Walking through a section of toys for girls, one particular item caught his eye. It was a porcelain doll with delicate features and chestnut brown hair. It did not take Carter more than three seconds for the image to trigger a long-forgotten childhood memory, and he chuckled as he thought of the girl the beautiful doll resembled, Blair Waldorf._

_...or was it Blair Bass now? Carter wondered and clandestinely hoped she had kept her maiden name after marriage, as the Blair he remembered from years ago was too good to be associated with the Bass name. Carter reminisced on the time he first spotted the young Ms. Waldorf, the girl he heard much about from his naive buddy Nate, at her grade school's open house. She was with Serena, the bubbly blonde schoolmate and confidante who was pretty, but not the type of girl Carter was ultimately attracted to. He had met plenty of friendly and good-looking girls around his age like Serena in Europe and the West Coast, but there was not much of a challenge in eventually dating her. Blair, on the other hand, was more elusive - "taken" by one of his friends even at their young age, but even back then Carter was never one to follow the rules._

_Carter, realizing how long he must have been standing in front of the section of girls' dolls, hastily picked up "the Blair doll" from its stand and headed to the owner at the register. Even though his nemesis Chuck eventually married the doe-eyed brunette, Carter wanted to have something with him in his Japanese suite to remind him of home._


End file.
